Much ado about nothing

TIMES INT'L

Dear Editor,

I am very opposed to all the ‘flaking’ that GECOM and the supporting staff members have been taking. The many repeated aggressive outbursts from bitter and unreasonable elements were, and still are, most unjustified. First, PPP/C, APNU, AFC and TUF all knew the outcome of 2011 general and regional elections as early as Tuesday, November 29.

In local parlance, one refers to this as ‘just after midnight.’ So all this raucous should never have been in the first place. Also, a lot of enlightenment is most necessary.

As reiterated by the chairman Dr Steve Surujbali, GECOM legally had up to 15 days to declare the results of the elections. So nothing, and I repeat nothing, untoward was done. But there is another factor at work too.

In declaring the results on the afternoon of Thursday, December 1, GECOM fared better than in the last elections. In the last elections, in 2006, the results were declared on the night of Thursday, August 31, 2006, i.e. three days after the elections. This means that the 2011 elections results and all were effected several hours earlier. So again, the question is why the big fuss. Elections are of paramount importance in every society, and a compromise in favour of speed and people’s impatience was not GECOM’s way of operation. I ask, here, if this is a bad thing.

In closing, since APNU is many times officially dissociating itself from some of the street rabble rousings, then I think that the mob elements should be arrested and be legally and condignly dealt with. The unrests that have so far taken place are not good for the orderly running of schools and businesses.

It is most important that ‘people get back on track.’

Yours sincerely,

Rajcoomar Persaud

Related posts